Monday, February 06, 2017

Oconee County Issues Public Notice Of Spill At Calls Creek Plant

Friday Morning Break

Oconee County posted a public notice on its Utility Department home page late Friday afternoon announcing a sanitary sewer force main break at its Calls Creek wastewater plant located at 1100 Durhams Mill Way on the north side of Watkinsville.

According to the announcement, the break was discovered at approximately 9:15 a.m. on Friday at the pump station at the base of the plant.

The county estimates that between 500 and 1,000 gallons of untreated sewage entered the waters of Calls Creek as a result of the spill.

Based on standards of the state Environmental Protection Division, the discharge into the creek “is classified as a minor spill,” according to the announcement.

Force Main

A force main is a line in which liquid is under pressure.

Sign At Creek (Click To Enlarge)

The county moves sewage from its collector at Calls Creek via a pump up hill to the wastewater treatment plant.

When it discovered the spill, the county immediately notified EPD and the Oconee County Environmental Health Department, according to the announcement.

The county also placed a hand-lettered sign on the Calls Creek at the site of the spill notifying the public of the discharge.

Erin Carlton, county Wastewater Utility supervisor, sent me photos this afternoon that he had taken of the sign.

Water Quality Sampling

County personnel inspected Calls Creek at several locations downstream of the spill to determine if there were any negative effects of the release of the raw sewage, the announcement stated.

The county conducted tests for acidity (pH), temperature, fecal coliform, and dissolved oxygen, according to the announcement.

“The flow in the stream appears to have diluted the small wastewater plume,” the announcement said.

The county had a series of problems with the operation of the Calls Creek plant in 2015, but Jenanne White, administrative assistant for the Utility Department, told me this afternoon that the county has had no spills at the Calls Creek plant since the end of 2015.

The plant currently is permitted for .667 million gallons per day of discharge, but Oconee County Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie is asking for approval of construction of a 1.5 million gallons per day facility.

Included in the design before the Commission are features that will accommodate a future upgrade to 3.0 million gallons per day.

Both designs would increase the volume of untreated sewage water that would reach the plant and that the creek would have to assimilate in the event of future spills.

Video of County Meetings

On May 6, 2008, Charles Baugh, Tony Glenn, Russ Page and I asked the Board of Commissioners to begin recording meetings and to make the recordings available to the public. We indicated we would record meetings and upload the video whether or not the Board decided to do so. On May 27, 2008, County Administrative Officer Alan Theriault announced that the county would begin recording meetings.

Those recordings can be viewed at the county's Vimeo site. A link to that site appears in the left-hand column of the BOC page of the county web site.

Paul J. Deutschmann Award

The Association for Education in Journalism named me the 2013 recipient of the Paul J. Deutschmann Excellence in Research Award at the association's annual conference on Aug. 10, 2013, in Washington, D.C.

Outstanding Contributor Award

The Oconee County Democratic Committee honored me on June 20 as one of 15 individuals making a contribution to the quality of life in Oconee County.

Dan Matthews, chairman of the Committee, cited Oconee County Observations in making the award.

Others honored included potters Kathy and Jerry Chappelle, Courtney Gale from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, Peggy Holcomb, Oconee County director of tourism, Chuck Horton, former county commissioner, Melissa Steele, a local artist and blogger, andVinnie Williams, owner and publisher of The Oconee Enterprise.

The Committee also honored the Jeannette Rankin Foundation.

Doctor Honoris Causa

I was given the Doctor Honoris Causa by the Senate of the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration on Dec. 4, 2012, in Bucharest, Romania. The Athens Banner-Herald wrote a story about the award.